The Chronicle
by EA Thomas
Summary: I can't give a summary...that would give to much of the story away...just trust me, READ THIS!
1. Default Chapter

The soft summer breeze carried the scent of jasmine through the air as she stood at the edge of the riverbank and looked out across the land. This is what she would remember, the scents in the air, the way her hair was lifted by the breeze and swept across her face and neck…

The sun was fading now and soon she would forget the pain and sorrow of her own past. Looking down at her feet, she slowly closed her eyes and opened them again. These days she couldn't close her eyes for any length of time—that's when the memories came rushing back to her; violence, terrified screams, blood on her own hands and the only evil her people could not defeat. It haunted her, even now, years later…a universe away…and still the nightmares came.

"Elaine?" His voice was soft and soothing as he called from the stone doorway. "Come my dear."

Fighting off the screams echoing in her memory, Elaine turned as a single tear escaped from her eye, "Just a moment longer?"

He sighed, "The sun, my dear, it sets the time without our permission."

She turned back to the sunset as another tear escaped and rolled down her cheek, "Yes, many things in this world make judgments without consulting those it affects." Facing him now, she straightened and tilted her chin to emphasize her meaning.

He smiled, "Elaine, if ever I chose to have a daughter..." The older man closed the distance between them and took her into his arms, "She would have your capacity for love."

Elaine tightened her arms around the one man she had trusted all these years and felt the light of day drain away from the world around her; this would be her last sunset. "As I said before," She said, pulling back to look him in the eyes, "You shall never change. You still say everything within you except that which you want to say. And I fear that the only words I can calm you with are these--I will not fail you."

A smile creased the old man's rugged face as he placed a soft kiss on her forehead, "It is time."

Elaine sighed and looked towards the horizon one last time, "Let it begin." Silently, she left the safety of his arms and walked to the entrance of the stone structure before her. With one final glance over her shoulder, Elaine met the sparkling blue eyes of her last friend and held the picture of him in her heart as a reminder of the love she was trying to preserve. He smiled in return and Elaine blinked away tears as she turned toward the dark room before her. She stepped through the doorway without hesitation as the last witness to her life made his quiet departure.

Elaine stood in darkness only a moment as the doors closed behind her silently and the room illuminated before her, revealing the elegant design of her people's technology. Her workstation looked like any other woman's vanity dresser, save for the sleek metal alloy that gave her some comfort of home as she ran her fingers along the edge. Hanging on the wall, above the desk, a large view screen that, when not activated, looked as though it were nothing more than a mirror hanging on a wall…

Sliding into a chair in the corner, Elaine slipped off her shoes and let her feet settle on the cold stone as she gazed about the room, "Four gray walls, and four gray towers over look a space of flowers…"

The sunlight faded below the horizon and the outside world fell into darkness. Though it seemed void of hope, she knew that life would once again thrive in this land. That all was not lost as it was thought to be and that, if given the right amount of encouragement the people of this world—her people—would build a new life here and a new legacy…


	2. Part one

**Present day…**

The sun had yet to rise and yet Daniel Jackson was fumbling around his apartment getting ready for work. The sharp pain in his right foot from his early morning run in with his night stand was dulling into a throb as he reached for a stack of books on the kitchen table and for a moment he tried to remember a time in his life when he didn't have to get up before sunrise just to get to work—but he couldn't remember not wanting to get up this early to get to his job at the SGC, maybe that's why he loved his job so much?

The drive to work was a blur, as usual. And the moment he stepped into the elevator, his nose was stuck in a book. This wasn't anything unusual either, but these days he found he had more time to indulge his love of reading, seeing as how the SGC had been reduced to nothing more than…a monument of their battles with the Goa'uld. But Daniel longed for the days when he, Carter, Teal'c and Jack would stay cooped up in the base trying to save the world. But, maybe this was one of those rare occasions when the ends justified the means—he really shouldn't be complaining about peace time, Jack had done enough of that for everyone…

Walking down the hall to his office, Daniel stopped off at the commissary and poured himself a cup of coffee. With his nose still wedged into the pages of the book in his hands, he took the opportunity to ignore Lt. Col. Mitchell sitting at the first table. Not that he didn't like the man, he was tolerable—but he came to the SGC and wanted to jump into something that didn't even exist anymore…and that just annoyed the hell out of Daniel, Jack would get a kick out of seeing him like this. No doubt he would sit back with his feet propped up just grinning…not saying anything, just grinning.

Book still in hand, Daniel turned the doorknob and flipped on the light to his office. These days it lacked the excitement he was use to, but once again, the silence offered him more time to catch up on things. And if anyone ever asked him, he never would have admitted to missing his friends as much as he did. Not that anyone had to ask, even the new general, Landry, knew that Daniel wasn't quite adapting to the new setup of things—when the turnover happened General Landry had pleaded with Daniel to stay and in the end, that was the only real reason he will still here. It seemed as though everyone had left, Jack and Sam went off to Washington to work at the White House—even Teal'c had bailed, and no one had heard anything from him since he accepted the position on the Jaffa council. But this was not under his control; books, research and archiving this was under his control…

With his coffee cup at his side and his book firmly planted before him, Daniel was a million miles away when Mitchell knocked at the door—making Daniel jump clear out of his seat. His hand clamped down on his coffee cup as he glared over at the door and saw Mitchell waiving, "Lt. Col. Mitchell, good morning," looking back to his desk, Daniel winced at the coffee spilled on the mail he brought from the house, "Oh man…" moving quickly, Daniel wiped the warm liquid from the envelopes and checked the others for damage.

Trying not to laugh, Mitchell smiled warily and walked over to the Doctor's desk, "Doctor Fenwick called, said she would be on her way back this afternoon," waiting for a reply, Mitchell rolled his eyes as the good doctor continued to ignore him and began to sort through the damaged envelopes…

Silently Daniel sorted through the three-inch stack of letters and tossed the obvious junk mail into the trashcan…but one envelope caught his attention. Made of cream paper with unfinished edges, Daniel turned the enveloped over in his hands and ran his fingers over the wax seal…

Mitchell watched silently and tried to imagine what would cause a reaction like this, granted it had only been a month since Mitchell arrived and he and Doctor Jackson weren't the best of friends, but he knew well enough that the look on the man's face meant something was up. Mitchell leaned forward and waived his hand to get Daniel's attention, "Everything alright Doc?" Mitchell asked, trying not to be too obvious in looking over the desk at the paper in his hands.

Still ignoring him, Daniel slid his fingers under the fold and pulled the enveloped open and took out a single sheet of paper. Unfolding the paper, Daniel squinted at the elegant handwriting as he read the single sentence written in the middle of the paper:

The sun sets time without our permission. 

Mitchell stood silently as Daniel sat back in his chair and pushed his glasses up on his nose. Daniel's brain began working in overdrive as he searched his memory for a reference to the passage—but he found nothing. The passage wasn't familiar, not from anything he had read through the years—but some how, it reminded him of something…someone…

As if he expected to find more information on the backside of the paper, Daniel turned the paper over in his hands and gaped down at the paper as he found precisely what he was looking for—an address.

The Doctor's face now looked as though he had seen the meaning of life and Mitchell felt as though he should excuse himself from the room, "Hey, Doc? What's wrong?" Mitchell asked as Daniel sprang from his chair.

"Is General Landry in his office?" Daniel asked, now sparked with a tangible energy that was making Mitchell nervous.

Now curious, Mitchell was hoping that he would be brought into the loop, "Uh, yeah—why?"

Without an answer, Daniel headed for the General's office while Mitchell stood speechless in his office and reminded himself that he was the new guy here, _It's going to take time…just give it time…_

Chapter 2 

Enjoying the first moment of silence he had found since waking up, General Landry sifted through the after action reports of SG-4 as Doctor Jackson appeared in his doorway and nodded for approval to enter. Without hesitation, General Landry closed the file before him and waived the younger man to the seat across from him, "Doctor Jackson?" The statement was neutral but was also a subtle hint that he was interrupting the General.

Daniel paused a moment and folded up the paper in his hand before taking a seat, "Sir, I need to take a few personal days if possible." He said, leaning forward as he spoke.

General Landry sat back in his chair and stifled his first response, this was a civilian doctor and not some young airman in is chain of command—he couldn't just tell him no and make him go away, "Is everything alright?"

"Yes Sir, I just need a few days to get something settled."

"Well, thanks to our little cut back I can safely say that there is nothing coming up that requires your attention—so, as long as you check in and let us know you are still alive…take as long as you need."

Taken a back at how easy he had gotten off, Daniel stood slowly and pocketed the letter, "Thank you Sir, uh—I'll stay in touch." Nodding another thank you, Daniel made his exit and left the general to his files.

As Daniel walked back to his office, his fingers felt for the letter in his pocket and soon he was reading the words over and over again. The phrase was familiar and yet he had no reference for its origins. But he couldn't ignore that, some how, the meaning of the passage was crystal clear to him and he knew without a doubt that the address was an invitation he could not ignore…

Once he reached his office, Daniel began collecting his coat and a few books. He was well on his way to closing up his office when he remembered that Julie was on her way back and she would be looking to him for her next step in the archiving—he couldn't leave her hanging…

He had thought to call her, but she had ignored his request for her to sign out a cell phone and now he had to resort to playing telephone as he made one last stop before heading to the elevator—Lt. Colonel Mitchell's office.

The small office was dimly lit as Daniel stopped in the doorway, "Colonel Mitchell?" No answer came and Daniel walked in farther, "Colonel?"

"Over here," Mitchell called out from behind the desk, "Watch your step," he said, as Daniel stopped just sort of the desk and looked down at the air force colonel sprawled out under his desk as he attempted to rewire his computer.

"Computer problems?" Daniel asked as he set the books on the desk.

Struggling to his feet, Mitchell held onto the desk to fight off the momentary bout of dizziness from standing too quickly, "What's up Doc?" he regretted saying it the moment the words passed his lips and Mitchell tried to by pass the statement.

Daniel shook his head as he pushed his glasses up on his nose, "I'm taking a few personal days, so I just wanted to ask if you would check up on Jul—_Doctor_ Fenwick when she got back and let her know I'll be back—"

Mitchell nodded and rolled his eyes at the thought of playing baby sitter, "In a few days…"

"Yeah, just uh, tell her to start archiving the list she brought back and I'll be here in time to start the translation..." His words were lost to the Lt. Colonel and Daniel knew that he was down right ignoring him, "On second thought, I'll call her later." Daniel said, turning for the door.

Mitchell watched him for a moment but couldn't shake the feeling that there was more going on here, "Hey Doctor Jackson?"

"Hm?" Daniel asked as he reluctantly stopped in the doorway.

Mitchell searched for the right words as he took a few steps toward the doorway, "This trip of yours…"

"It's personal business," he replied.

"And it doesn't involve any Goa'ulds that might be living on Earth? Or any type of 'destroy them from within' tactic from an alien race…"

In a moment, Daniel saw himself in the man before him and had to smile at the implication that he might be trying to protect Lt. Colonel Mitchell, "Uh, no—no…just something I need to take care of." Daniel offered a friendly smile before ducking out into the hall.

Mitchell stood silently for a moment and against his better judgment, walked out into the hall and called after the Doctor one last time…

Daniel stopped but didn't turn around, he simply looked toward the ceiling and sighed, "I promise to call if I find any aliens."

Chapter 3 


End file.
